American Go E-Journal

This week living go legend, Go Seigen, turns 97. As many readers will know, Go is famous for his brilliant record in the newspaper sponsored jubango (ten game matches) of the 1930s-50s and his involvement in the Shin Fuseki (new opening) movement of the 1930s. According the Gregorian calendar, Go’s birthday was on June 12. However, if you missed it, his birthday according to the Chinese (lunar) calendar is on June 20 this year, so there is still an opportunity for those who wish to celebrate it.

In other news, Kong Jie 9P won the 23rd Asian TV Cup for the third year in a row. Kong defeated Yamada Kimio 9P of Japan and Baek Hongseok 8P of Korea to defend the Cup for China. A full report is available at Go Game Guru.

The 16th LG Cup has started in Seoul, Korea – with the first round being completed on June 13. Some notable results from this round include Park Younghun 9P defeating Lee Sedol 9P, Lee Changho 9P knocking out Gu Li 9P and Park Jungsang 9P eliminating Kong Jie 9P. This promises to be an exciting tournament, with the most anticipated game of round two being Lee Changho’s meeting with Iyama Yuta 9P of Japan. You can keep track of all the results and see the game records at Igokisen.

18 at 8p (EDT) on KGS. In rounds last weekend, Lu/Zhang defeated Yinli Wang (Fairy2009) and Yuan Zhou (GMD; see game at left) and Shen/Tang beat Wang/Zhou in an impressive comeback win (see game at right).

East Coast go fans will be able to watch top players compete — as well as play themselves – in the June 19 Wisonet Cup semi-final in Somerset, NJ. A 1-round morning game for all players (see below for details) will be followed by two semi-finals in the afternoon. In one semi, Andy Liu 7d (l) will play Kevin Huang 7d (r). Liu, an 18-year-old college student, is a top American amateur go player whose playing style is “steady and moderate,” reports Wisonet Go Club founder Ronghao Chen. Huang — who recently won the Maryland Open and is a three-time New Jersey Open titleholder — likes to fight against his opponent in the early stages of the game. The two will play a slow game – 2 hours BT, 60 seconds OT — at the Wisonet Cup Go Tournament semi-final on Sunday, June 19 at 1p at the Madison Suite Hotel, 11 Cenda Grove Lane, in Somerset. Click here for directions. Minshan Shou will play Xinyu Tu in the other semi-final game at the same time and place. The entry fee to watch the games is $5, but those who play a fast game in the morning (9:30a-12:30p) can watch for free; registration for this rated game is $10. Registration starts at 8:30a.- photos courtesy Ronghao Chen

U.S. representative Eric Lui 7d placed third in the 2011 World Amateur Go Championship, the highest finish ever achieved by a U.S. player. Eric sent along this report on the tournament, as well as the exciting final-round game — with his comments — that clinched the 3rd-place win.
This year’s World Amateur Go Championship featured 57 players. The Japanese representative was 84-year-old Hirata Hironori who was playing in the WAGC for his eighth time, having won the tournament in 1995. The youngest player was 13-year-old C.H. Chan from Hong Kong, who is already well-known on KGS. The tournament venue was the Shimane Prefectural Assembly Hall, located right across from Matsue Castle, one of the last remaining medieval castles in Japan. Shimane is the birthplace of the great Honinbo Dosaku and Iwamoto Kaoru 9P.

The pairing system used prevented the top four seeded players (China, Korea, Japan, Chinese Taipei) from being paired together before Round 4. Several exciting matchups, including Romania vs. France and Chinese Taipei vs. Canada, occurred as early as Round 2. Since there were an odd number of players, a ‘Dummy’ player was introduced. Each round, the one player paired against ‘Dummy’ gained a free win and played a teaching game against a professional.

The stakes were high in my final-round match against the player from Chinese Taipei. Both of us had lost only to China and Korea, and the winner would finish in third place while the loser would drop to 8th. The game itself was very exciting and was the last of the round to finish. While any go player is familiar with the thrill of winning, there are no words to describe what it felt like for me to achieve this victory.- Eric Lui (shown at right in photo, playing John Karlsson of Sweden)If you enjoy the E-Journal’s coverage of the world go scene, please help support it by joining the AGA today! Click here for details on how.

Many go players know that video game pioneer Atari was named after the go term, but how many know that this was actually the second choice for the company’s name? “Sente” was the first choice by Nolan Bushnell (r) and his partner Ted Dabney, according to By Any Other Name: The Origin of Atari on the CHEGheads Blog by Shannon Symonds, Acquisitions Cataloger for the International Center for the History of Electronic Games. “Both in print and on camera, Bushnell cited the strategy game Go as his favorite game of all time,” Symonds notes. After their original choice, Syzygy, turned out to already be trademarked, “Bushnell provided the state with three new names from which to choose: Sente, Atari, and Hanne. All three reference moves in Go.” Symonds also reports that “In 1984, Atari created a subsidiary company called Tengen, which translates to “the origin of heaven” and is the very center point on a Go board.”- thanks to Jeremiah Parry-Hill for spotting this

Author in the process of producing new go works in electronic format needs assistance. Three works currently available on the Amazon Kindle. Two new works are in finished HTML format with completed sgf/eps diagrams, but help is needed for final electronic conversion. Any help would be appreciated. Contact: Robert Terry; 562-420- 9503; rjterry100@hotmail.com

Just days remain before AGA board nominations close this Wednesday, June 15. Gordon Castanza and Daniel Smith are running unopposed in the western and central regions respectively while Paul Celmer and Edward (Zhiyuan) Zhang compete in the eastern region. If you are a full member of the AGA you may nominate, or self-nominate, a candidate in your region by writing or email at elections@usgo.org. Details of the qualifications for office and election schedule are online. Chapter representatives must check there for special instructions due to mailing list problems.- Arnold Eudell

German 5-dan Robert Jasiek has released the second volume of his series on joseki, which focuses on joseki strategy. Jasiek describes the goals for the book in his review: “The book serves the two purposes of teaching joseki strategy in particular and strategy in general. While the majority of examples shows josekis or other corner situations and only some examples illustrate the middle game, almost all principles, concepts and methods are equally applicable during opening and middle game.” The first volume of the three-volume series (with Volume 3 still to be completed) came out in 2009 and looks at the fundamentals of joseki. Both volumes are 250+ pages with an average of four diagrams per page. Jasiek is well-known in international go circles for his work on go theory and his research into go rules.

Ten strong players battled on KGS last weekend in the North American Ing Masters (NAIM) 2011 Online Qualifier #1, with Guozhong Zhuang sweeping the June 4-5 four-round tournament and securing his place in the NAIM this August at the Go Congress in Santa Babara, CA. Zhuang’s son Vincent finished 3-1, losing only to his father. Daniel Chou also finished 3-1. Click here for details. Another NAIM online qualifier on KGS is scheduled for June 25-26; deadline for registering for Qualifier 2 is June 10. Email agatd2@gmail.com to register.

For strong players there are two remaining in-person NAIM qualifiers, hosted by AGA chapter clubs:DC-Baltimore, June 17-18, hosted by GWGC, NOVA and CAPA (this event also offers free play of rated games for AGA players of all levels)Greater Chicago area, July 9, hosted by Evanston Go Club and Korean Go Center (cash prize available).– Tengxiao Yang 6d and Changlong Wu 7d